Category Archives: History

March 24

Wilhelm Reich: Climax To Happiness!

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On the 24th of March 1897, eccentric psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich was born in the village of Dobzau, part of the old Austro-Hungarian empire (present-day Ukraine). An anti-Fascist Marxist, Reich is primarily considered the inventor of the notion of ‘sexual revolution’ who coined the phrase in the 1930s in order to illustrate his belief that a true political […]

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March 21

The Beginning of the World According to James Ussher

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On the 21st of March 1656, the archbishop of Armagh in Ireland, James Ussher, died in Reigate, Surrey, England. He was one of the few scholars who attempted deciphering biblical chronology and placing it within historical context . As strange as it may all sound, he managed to calculate the beginning of the world, using the Hebrew […]

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March 19

Tarzan and the Story of White Settlers in Africa

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On the 19th of March 1950, the American writer widely known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs, died in Enciano, California. After doing various low paid jobs, first at a ranch in Idaho, then at his father’s firm, and later as a pencil sharpener wholesaler, he did not take up […]

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March 15

Immigration and Racial Prejudice: The Chinese Exclusion Act

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On the 15th of March 1879, Thomas Nast’s cartoon, A Matter of Taste, was published. In the cartoon, criticising the support of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Senator James G. Blaine, an active backer of the Act, is shown dining in ‘Kearney’s Senatorial Restaurant’ – a reference to Denis Kearney, the leader of a violent anti-Chinese […]

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March 12

Corporate ‘Museums’: The World of Coca Cola

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On the 12th of March 1894, the first bottles of Coca-Cola were sold in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the drink invented by Atlanta pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton eight years earlier. Joseph Biedenharn, the owner of the soda fountain in Vicksburg, was the first to install bottling machinery in the rear of his store. Their popularity quickly spread […]

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March 10

Is There One True Inventor of the Telephone?

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On the 10th of March 1876, three days after his patent was issued, Scottish-born Canadian scientist Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922) succeeded in communicating with sound, using a liquid transmitter similar to Elisha Gray’s design of an early telephone. Controversy reigned over who was the first actual inventor of the device, and recent books […]

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March 08

Anne Bonny, Eighteenth-Century Pirate Vixen

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On the 8th of March 1702, notorious Irish female pirate Anne Bonny was born as Anne Cormac, in Kinsale County Cork, the daughter of a servant woman and her solicitor employer. Trustworthy information about her life is scarce, mostly relying on A General History of the Pyrates. The book was written in 1724 and signed […]

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March 06

White on White: Hidden Race in Rockwell’s ‘Freedom from Want’

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On the 6th of March 1943, iconic painter and illustrator of American culture Norman Rockwell, published Freedom from Want or The Thanksgiving Picture in The Saturday Evening Post, one of over 300 covers he produced for the Indianapolis publication during his lifetime. It was the third of four oil paintings known as the Four Freedoms inspired by […]

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February 07

MONOPOLY: Board Games and Ideology

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On the 7th of February 1935, one of the world’s most popular board games, MONOPOLY, was patented by Parker Brothers. Commonly thought to be a creation of one man, Charles Darrow, the game had actually undergone a lengthy process of transformation from an educational, anti-capitalist board game to Mr Darrow’s final and most successful version […]

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February 04

Franz Reichelt: The Parachuting Pioneer and His Infamous Stunt

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On the 4th of February 1912, Austrian-born inventor and tailor Franz Reichelt, also known as the Flying Tailor, died tragically by jumping from the Eiffel Tower, whilst trying out his own creation, a coat parachute. Even though, having worked on the prototype for two years, and having had it rejected numerous times by aeronautic organisations and competitions, Reichelt had […]

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